Refrigerator

ABSTRACT

A refrigerator includes a main body cabinet, a cooling room provided in the main body cabinet, and a freezing room provided in the main body cabinet and which is disposed at a lower side of the cooling room. The refrigerator further includes an ice-making room provided above the freezing room and separated from the freezing room; a dispenser part exposed at a front of the ice-making room and for drawing out ice from the ice-making room to the outside; and a freezing room door provided below the ice-making room and slidably opening/closing the freezing room. Thus, a refrigerator is provided that a user can easily receive ice through a dispenser part disposed at a front of an ice-making room in a closed state of a freezing room door disposed below a cooling room.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 2005-0067001, filed on Jan. 25, 2005, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a refrigerator provided with a freezing room disposed below a cooling room and, more particularly, to a refrigerator in which a user can easily receive ice through a dispenser part disposed at a front of an ice-making room in a closed state of a freezing room door disposed below a cooling room.

2. Description of the Related Art

In a refrigerator disclosed in Japanese First Publication No. 2003-287364, a door for opening/closing a freezing room provided in a lower side thereof is hingedly coupled, and the freezing room is provided with an ice-making device on one side of the left and right sides, and an ice storage vessel under the machine. The frozen food storage vessel is arranged on the other side of the left and right sides. These vessels are placed in a bottom surface of the freezing room and are freely drawn out forwardly along with the door.

However, in this conventional refrigerator, because the ice-making device and the ice storage vessel are provided inside of the freezing room, the user can draw out the ice from the freezing room only in a state of the door being opened.

Therefore, there is a need for an ice dispenser accessible outside of the door so that the user can draw out the ice formed in the ice-making room from the outside in a state wherein the door is closed without having to open it, for enhancing a user's convenience.

Further, there is a need for a respective storage space which stores specific food such as meat, fish, and vegetables and is separated from the cooling room and the freezing room. And if the user can open/close the specific storage space without opening a cooling room door or a freezing room door, the user's convenience is enhanced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a refrigerator in which a user can easily receive ice through a dispenser part disposed at a front of an ice-making room in a closed state of a freezing room door disposed below a cooling room.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present invention can be achieved by providing a refrigerator having a main body cabinet, a cooling room provided in the main body cabinet, and a freezing room provided in the main body cabinet and which is disposed at a lower side of the cooling room, comprising: an ice-making room provided above the freezing room and separated from the freezing room; a dispenser part exposed at a front of the ice-making room and for drawing out ice from the ice-making room to the outside; and a freezing room door provided below the ice-making room and which slidably opens/closes the freezing room.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the ice-making room is provided with an ice-making tray for making the ice, and an ice supplying part for storing the ice supplied from the ice-making tray and transferring the ice to the dispenser part.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the ice supplying part comprises an ice transfer device which inclines upwardly toward the dispenser part.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the dispenser part further comprises a water dispenser for supplying drinking water.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the refrigerator further comprises an ice-making room door for opening/closing the ice-making room and provided with the dispenser part.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the refrigerator further comprises an auxiliary storage room separated from the ice-making room on one side and disposed between the cooling room and the freezing room.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the refrigerator further comprises a cooling air supplying part provided in a rear of the auxiliary storage room and which supplies the cooling air from the cooling room to the auxiliary storage room.

A refrigerator includes a main body cabinet provided with at least one main cooling room, and a main cooling room door provided in the main body cabinet and which opens/closes the main cooling room, comprising: an ice-making part separated from the main cooling room in the main body cabinet and having an ice-making room for making ice and an ice-making room door which opens/closes the ice-making room; and a dispenser part provided in the ice-making door to be exposed to an outside of the main body cabinet.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the ice-making room is provided with an ice-making tray and an ice transfer device for supplying the ice from the ice-making tray to the dispenser part.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the dispenser part further comprises a water dispenser for supplying drinking water.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the refrigerator further comprises at least one auxiliary storage room separated from the main cooling room in the main body cabinet and having a door opening part toward a front; a storage basket slidably accommodated in the auxiliary storage room; and an auxiliary storage room door coupled to the storage basket and which opens/closes the door opening part.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the main cooling room and the auxiliary storage room are divided in a vertical direction.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the main cooling room comprises a cooling room and a freezing room which are separated from each other by disposing the auxiliary storage room therebetween, and the ice-making part is vertically separated from the auxiliary storage room.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or other aspects and advantages of the prevent invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompany drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view illustrating a refrigerator consistent with the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a state in which a door of the refrigerator consistent with the present invention is opened; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an ice dispenser part of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIVE, NON-LIMITING EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below so as to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a refrigerator according to the present invention includes a main body cabinet 1 having a cooling room 10, a fixed temperature storage room 30, and a freezing room 40 which are horizontally divided by a plurality of partitions. The refrigerator further includes cooling room doors 11, a fixed temperature storage room door 32, a freezing room door 41 which are provided in the main body cabinet 1 and open/close the cooling room 10, the fixed temperature storage room 30, and the freezing room 40, respectively. Herein, at least one of the cooling room 10 and the freezing room 40 comprises the main cooling room, and the fixed temperature storage room 30 comprises an auxiliary storage room. Further, the cooling room doors 11 or the freezing room door 41 comprise the main storage room door, and the fixed temperature storage room door 32 comprises an auxiliary storage room door.

The cooling room 10 includes a front opening part and is provided in an upper part of the main body cabinet 1. In the cooling room 10 is disposed a plurality of cooling room shelves 14 in a vertical direction of the cooling room 10.

The cooling room 10 is opened/closed by, for example, a pair of the cooling room doors 11 which are rotatably disposed with respect to the main body cabinet 1. Inside at least one of the cooling room doors 11 is provided a door guide 15 accommodating bottles and the like in a vertical direction of the cooling room door 11.

Referring to FIG. 3, in a lower side of the cooling room 10 are provided an ice-making room 22 for ice-making, and an ice-making part 20 having an ice-making room door 21 which opens/closes the ice-making room 22. The ice-making room door 21 is provided with a dispenser part for receiving ice made in the ice-making room 22, and drinking water from the outside. Herein, the dispenser part is provided with a water dispenser 13 for supplying the drinking water, and an ice dispenser 12 for supplying the ice.

The ice-making room 22 is provided with an ice-making device having an ice-making tray 17 where the water supplied from a water supply hose is made into the ice by cooling air generated from a ventilating fan 3, and an ice supplying part 18 storing the ice from the ice-making tray 17 to supply to the ice dispenser 12.

The ice supplying part 18 includes an ice transfer device 19 which stores the ice supplied from the ice-making tray 17 and inclines upwardly toward the ice dispenser 12 so as to move the ice upwardly toward the ice dispenser 12.

The ice-making room door 21 is rotatably disposed at a front of the ice-making room 22 and rotates with respect to the ice-making room 22 to open/close the same. Further, the ice-making room door 21 slidably opens/closes the ice-making room 22, thereby opening the ice-making room door 21 and easily repairing the ice-making device inside of the ice-making room 22.

The ice which has fallen down from the ice-making tray 17 to the ice supplying part 18, is moved upwardly by the ice transfer device 19. The ice moves along a discharging pathway 16 through an ice outlet 23 formed at the ice-making room door 21 to be discharged to an ice discharging hole 15, so that the ice is supplied to the user.

The fixed temperature storage room 30 is designed to be kept in a specific temperature band set in a respective space separated from the cooling room 10 and the freezing room 40, and is provided to be in a range from a cooling temperature to a freezing temperature. A cooling air supplying part (not shown) is provided in a rear of the fixed temperature storage room 30 so as to supply the cooling air from the cooling room 10 to the fixed temperature storage room 30. According to a set temperature, meat, fish and vegetables and the like can be stored therein. The fixed temperature storage room 30 is opened/closed by the fixed temperature storage room door 32 which is coupled to a storage basket 31 which slides into the fixed temperature storage room 30.

The freezing room 40 is disposed below the ice-making room 20 and the fixed temperature storage room 30 and is separated from the ice-making room 20 and the fixed temperature storage room 30. The freezing room 40 is opened/closed by the freezing room door 41 to slide with respect to the freezing room 40.

With this configuration, the ice-making part 20 is separated from the freezing room 40, and the water dispenser 13 and the ice dispenser 12 are exposed to the outside in the front of the ice-making part 20, so that the user can simply receive the water and the ice therethrough. Further, the fixed temperature storage room 30 is provided as the respective space separated from the cooling room 10 and the freezing room 40, and the fixed temperature storage room 30 can be opened/closed by sliding the fixed temperature storage room door 32, thereby easily drawing out and storing the food in the fixed temperature storage room 30.

Although a few exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents. 

1. A refrigerator having a main body cabinet, a cooling room provided in the main body cabinet, and a freezing room provided in the main body cabinet and which is disposed at a lower side of the cooling room, comprising: an ice-making room provided above the freezing room and separated from the freezing room; a dispenser part exposed at a front of the ice-making room and for drawing out ice from the ice-making room to the outside; and a freezing room door provided below the ice-making room and which slidably opens/closes the freezing room.
 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the ice-making room is provided with an ice-making tray for making the ice, and an ice supplying part for storing the ice supplied from the ice-making tray and transferring the ice to the dispenser part.
 3. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the ice supplying part comprises an ice transfer device which inclines upwardly toward the dispenser part.
 4. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the dispenser part further comprises a water dispenser for supplying drinking water.
 5. The refrigerator according to claim 4, further comprising an ice-making room door for opening/closing the ice-making room and provided with the dispenser part.
 6. The refrigerator according to claim 1, further comprising an auxiliary storage room separated from the ice-making room on one side and disposed between the cooling room and the freezing room.
 7. The refrigerator according to claim 6, further comprising a cooling air supplying part provided in a rear of the auxiliary storage room and which supplies the cooling air from the cooling room to the auxiliary storage room.
 8. A refrigerator having a main body cabinet provided with at least one main cooling room, and a main cooling room door provided in the main body cabinet and which opens/closes the main cooling room, comprising: an ice-making part separated from the main cooling room in the main body cabinet and having an ice-making room for making ice and an ice-making room door which opens/closes the ice-making room; and a dispenser part provided in the ice-making door to be exposed to an outside of the main body cabinet.
 9. The refrigerator according to claim 8, wherein the ice-making room is provided with an ice-making tray and an ice transfer device for supplying the ice from the ice-making tray to the dispenser part.
 10. The refrigerator according to claim 8, wherein the dispenser part further comprises a water dispenser for supplying drinking water.
 11. The refrigerator according to claim 8, further comprising at least one fixed temperature storage room separated from the main cooling room in the main body cabinet and having a door opening part toward a front; a storage basket slidably accommodated in the fixed temperature storage room; and an fixed temperature storage room door coupled to the storage basket and which opens/closes the door opening part.
 12. The refrigerator according to claim 11, wherein the main cooling room and the fixed temperature storage room are divided in a vertical direction.
 13. The refrigerator according to claim 12, wherein the main cooling room comprises a cooling room and a freezing room which are separated from each other by disposing the fixed temperature storage room therebetween, and the ice-making part is vertically separated from the fixed temperature storage room. 